This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Food So, About That Soda Tax (Again)
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 1:53 PM
- From a Series of Anti-Soda Posters in NYC
"This study that we did with UCLA showed that regardless of income or ethnicity, adults who drink one or more soda a day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight or obese,"
That’s Dr. Harold Goldstein, from California’s Center for Public Health Advocacy, speaking with NPR’s Kelley Weiss. Right off the bat, the statistic seems pretty startling. But it’s designed to be startling. Goldstein is advocating for a soda tax to help pay for the nation’s healthcare overhaul.
Dan Savage had a bit to say about this awhile back. He supported the tax. Me? I’m not so sure.
A quick search for “soda tax” reveals that this idea has been around for quite awhile. But recently, proponents of using a soda tax to reclaim costs of major healthcare reform have grown even more vocal. The idea follows the same logic of other “sin taxes”: People are enjoying a product that is unhealthy for them. Their poor health is driving up medical costs. Therefore we should tax what they’re enjoying so they’ll enjoy it less and by default, become healthier. Meanwhile, the tax revenue will pay for the increased healthcare cost we already have. The sin here, I guess, is gluttony.
Smokers, you know the drill: Quit smoking, or take it with a nicotine smile.
Let’s get back to that “27 percent” statistic. Yeah, you drink soda and you’re more likely to be obese. But you know what? If you eat Doritos, you’re more likely to be obese. If you eat fried pies, you’re more likely to be obese. If you don’t get up and move your ass every once in awhile, you’re more likely to be obese. If you are poor, you’re more likely to be obese. If your job is going out to eat three to four times a week so you can publish your opinion in the food section of an alt-weekly, you’re more likely to be obese. There are, of course, exceptions.
Hey, you know what really makes people fat? Bacon! That shit is like a fat injection right into your fat ass. But we’re not going to tax bacon, are we?
Am I wrong to feel that a tax on soda seems both desperate and misguided? Am I?
Proponents suggest that the projected revenue from a small soda tax could bring in $150 billion dollars in revenue in a scant 10 years. And although it’s essentially conceding that less soda would be consumed, detractors say that a soda tax will lead to a $22 billion dollar loss in economic output.
When it comes down to it, it might be that my opinion is linked to directly to my own self-preservation. There is no way I’m coming to work if there’s a tax levied on soda. Fact is, the day that Erik Henriksen can’t afford to pay for his Dungeons and Dragons themed Jones Soda to chase down his daily smoothie made of Kit Kat bars and Where the Wild Things Are Berry Wild Slurpee™… Well… On that day the walls will run red with the blood of anyone who gets caught in the path of his blind rage.
But what’s your opinion, Blogtownies? Do tell.
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They don't need to tax sodas. They just need to remove corn subsidies. Force corn to hit real market prices and that soda won't be so cheap anymore.
@Graham and @Patrick - Yup, was just going to ask about that. Could you look into whether that's true? I know US has a history of artificially propping up sugar prices, but on the other hand corn syrup is subsidized. Can we tell what a "real market price" for soda would actually be?
I support it for sugar, corn sugar based drinks. Diet soda? Eh. Does it make people fat and cause diabetes? Don't think so.
"Am I wrong to feel that a tax on soda seems both desperate and misguided? Am I?"
Yes.
@Reymont: According to my wiki-google searches, It's actually a mixture of corn subsidies mixed with high tariffs on imported sugars. So the American price for normal sugars are about twice what they are on the global market. But without doing a thorough cost analysis of the soda industry, there's no way of really knowing what the prices would be.
But looking at this: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi…
It seems like even in markets where sugar is used instead of HFCS the price of a can of soda seems pretty stable across markets.
So I take it back. Changing subsidies and tariffs on sugars won't impact the price of soda dramatically. Tax the shit out of that crap.
Actually, bacon is probably healthier than Coke. A quick google search turns up bacon being 40-50 calories per slice, and a 20 oz Coke being 200 calories.
Given that bacon is rarely served in quantities larger than 4 slices, and Coke is generally served in quantities of 20 oz or more, eating a side of bacon a day would arguably be healthier, calorie-wise, than a bottle of Coke a day.
Add to this that most bacon consumers probably do not eat it every day, while most Coke consumers probably do drink it every day, and Coke seems much more insidious than bacon.
150 billion is more than 22 billion.
I say tax it, and tax bacon too. You shouldn't be buying so much of either that it'll make a difference. (And I love bacon).
Just looked at Coca Cola's nutritional facts. Coke has 97 calories per 8 oz serving, or 242.5 calories in a 20 oz, so it exceeds our hypothetical side of bacon by a whole slice worth.
Whatever. taxing people for increasing their risk to healthcare is the same as car insurance going up when you get speeding tickets. In that -- it Is a good idea. now the argument can be made that car insurance companies increase your rates way more than they should for speeding tickets, and i'm not sure how the proposed soda tax would do as far as whether it is too much or not enough, however money is short right now so we should do this.
@Graham: I expect that the actual cost of soda is at least 50% marketing. (Look at the price difference between Coke or Pepsi and something like Safeway Select.) Add in the cost for transportation and distribution and I expect the actual soda is in the pennies per gallon range. (Look at the price difference between bottled water and soda.) So even if the sugar was free or twice as much as it is now, it probably isn't actually a big deal in the price.
As for the original topic: Tax it, (easy for me to say, I don't drink that much soda.) Tax bacon too, (I eat bacon.) Tax beer, (empty calories and all that.) Tax fry oil, (cause I eat way too much fried stuff.) Tax people that drive a couple blocks when they could have walked. We should also tax garbage and carbon and everything else that we want less of. And make the tax rate so high on that stuff that we can get rid of the income tax, (since that is something we actually want to encourage: We want people to make money.)
Since people seem to only care about two issues in this country, taxes and abortion, the solution is to tax obese people, not food.
If you're obese, you should pay more for health coverage than someone that's height/weight proportionate. Other factors would need to be included in a screening but this is the most obvious solution to this issue.
I promise that if you tax people based on their weight and other health factors that they can control, people will start taking care of themselves and everything will sort itself out in the end.
I for one don't want my soda or bacon taxed!
Signed,
Someone that's height/weight proportionate
I just like the idea of making something totally worthless (soda) harder to abuse. It could go a couple of ways with the tax.. we make more money to pay for things, or.. people drink less soda. Either way is a win. Natural/Organic i.e. non-corn-syrup-sweetened soda should be exempt from the tax. Coca Cola and similar corporations should be massively taxed on top of that just on principle.
@SCSI: As someone of ideal HWP/BMI and near perfect blood pressure, I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment. Tax the fatties. I don't want my public option health care getting bogged down by their obese-lack-of-self-control diabetic asses.
Another reason that bacon isn't nearly as bad for you as soda is that bacon is heavy in fat, which your body processes slowly, while soda is full of simple sugars, which your body processes immediately, turning all the energy it can't use (most of it) into body fat. Also, all that sugar gives you diabetes, while that bacon will just give you hypertension.
Removing corn subsidies would effect far more than just the soda industry. That stuff is just about every packaged food product you find.
As for the taxing of soda, I see it the same as taxing of smokes. No matter how high you set the tax a number of people will still consume to excess. And like the taxes gained on a pack of smokes, I doubt that much of it will actually make it to offsetting the cost of health care.
If they really are concerned about people's health, then they should do incentives like being able to get a discount on your insurance if you are a gym member, or can pass a physical performance test. Punishing people with a tax will not change people's minds, other than to piss them off.
"You can catch more flies with .." how does that saying go?
"that 27% statistic"
Believe it, Patrick. Not only does it more strongly correlate with obesity, it more strongly correlates with eating other crap that contributes to obesity, including the things you've mentioned, rather than vice versa.
Food, good food, even crap food, is meant to be enjoyed in moderation. I'm a trainer/fitness specialist and I never tell people to deprive themselves of certain culinary pleasures-the occassional burger, steak, pizza, BACON, for example. But I'm adamant about people cutting out the soda. I'd say almost 90% of my obese clients drink soda, or have done so regularly. It's the easiest and crappiest thing to excise. If you don't do it? Fuck if I'm going to pay for your total endocrine system failure in 20 years. Tax the shit out of it.
It'll be interesting to see how high the price can get before people turn away or think twice. I say well over 2 bucks a can.
I say tax it. Soda should be enjoyed in moderation like alcohol. And just wanted to mention- diet soda is bad for you too. When I lived in the midwest I drank diet soda all the time and wound up in the emergency room twice with stomach ailments. My stomach hurt all the time and I was taking various meds for it. Soon as I stopped drinking diet soda my problems cleared up.
"I say tax it. Soda should be enjoyed in moderation like alcohol."
@erp
Don't bring booze into it buddy! Sweet, sweet booze nectar...
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